Carillion collapse: 4,400 jobs saved on defence and prisons contracts

The jobs of more than 4,400 former Carillion workers have been saved, with their transfer to new companies working on Government defence and prison service contracts.

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4,400 jobs have been saved among Carillion cleaners and catering staff working at defence sites across the UK, and working for the prisons service.

But nearly 60 working on construction projects around the UK are being made redundant later this week, bringing the jobs toll at the collapsed Wolverhampton-based group to around a thousand.

Around a third of Carillion's work was with the UK Government, and it looked after catering and cleaning at hundreds of defence sites across the country.

The prisons services took over Carillion's work early on the the liquidation process after the company collapsed last month.

Safeguard

In a statement this morning a spokesperson for the Official Receiver said: “Arrangements have now been finalised to transfer prison facilities management and defence bases catering and cleaning contracts to new providers and as a result we have been able to safeguard employment for a further 4,418 employees."

Carillion employed around 19,000 people in the UK when it crashed, with another 23,000 working overseas.

The ultimate fate of the 400 people working at Carillion's Wolverhampton city centre headquarters is still unknown. Most are working with the Insolvency Service and PwC, the accountants appointed special managers of the liquidation, on sorting through the complex details of Carillions many public and private sector contracts.

The Official Receiver's spokesperson added: “Ongoing employment has been confirmed for more than a third of Carillion’s workforce so far as part of the liquidation.

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"There is a lot of interest from potential purchasers in the contracts the company delivered which will see the number of jobs safeguarded continue to increase."

Regret

But there was bad news too: “Employment could not be secured for a further 59 employees working on paused construction projects and regrettably they will leave the business later this week.

"Those who have lost their jobs will be able to find support through Jobcentre Plus’ Rapid Response Service and are also entitled to make a claim for statutory redundancy payments.

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]“Most employees who have transferred so far have done so on existing or similar terms and I will continue to facilitate this wherever possible as we work to find new providers for Carillion’s other contracts.

“The process to find new suppliers to deliver Carillion’s contracts continues. I am continuing to engage with staff, elected employee representatives and unions to keep them informed as these arrangements are confirmed.”

In total, to date 6,668 jobs have been saved and 989 jobs have been made redundant through the liquidation, says the Insolvency Service.